


Injuries

by bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-07
Updated: 2015-03-24
Packaged: 2018-03-16 16:27:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3495104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid/pseuds/bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke is so busy taking care of everyone at camp that she neglects to take care of herself, letting an injury go untreated. Luckily Bellamy is there watching her back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Clarke tried not to wince as she lifted her arm up to grab bandages off the shelf. She couldn’t let the cut on her side slow her down, especially because it was her own damn fault for being so stupid. She had stitched it up, bandaged it, and now she had work to do. There was always someone to tend to at camp. The delinquents couldn’t seem to keep themselves out of trouble.

“Clarke! Clarke we need you!” Her stomach dropped at the familiar words and tone of panic. It meant that someone was seriously injured. She ran out of the dropship and saw Miller sprinting towards her. He was covered in dirt, his clothing was a bit ripped, and had a few cuts on his arms, but they didn’t look too serious.

“Miller, what’s wrong? Who’s hurt?” She looked around, trying to find an injured person, but there was none.

“There was a rock slide. Jasper is completely pinned, several others are injured, I don’t know how bad. Bellamy and a few that aren’t too hurt are trying to get Jasper out.” Miller said in a hurried tone. Clarke absorbed the information, ignoring the fact that her breathing got easier as soon as Miller mentioned Bellamy, and then she sprang into action.

“Find Raven, Octavia, and Monty. I’ll get supplies.” They both ran in different directions, knowing that time was of the essence. Clarke ran back into the dropship and hurriedly packed a bag full of bandages, a needle and thread, clean rags (clean being a relative term), and moonshine. She had just finished when four people burst into the ship.  
“Miller told us what happened, what do you need?” Raven said in her wonderful straight to business tone.

“I need you guys to fill up as many bottles of water as you can. Raven, Octavia, and Miller will come with me to the site of the rockslide. Monty I need you to stay here and make a crap ton of your infection fighting tea. Everyone will need to drink it when we get them back.” Monty looked like he wanted to argue but decided against it. He nodded instead and they all went to fill up bottles of water. Once they were finished, Miller led the way as they ran as quickly as possible.

They finally reached the spot where it had happened, it was worse than Clarke had imagined.

“We were standing up there when the ground gave way,”Miller said pointing up to the top of the ravine. “We all slid down along with a bunch of rocks. A few of us were buried, but we managed to get them out. Jasper was the only one we were having difficulty with.” Clarke followed his gaze and saw Jasper lying with his leg trapped underneath a huge boulder. He was conscious, but barely. Bellamy was trying to wedge a stick underneath it to move it, he had blood running down his face. He looked slightly pale but determined. Clarke tore her gaze from Bellamy to assess the entire situation. Harper was propped against a tree, her arm wrapped around her middle. Monroe’s arm was at a funny angle and her leg was bleeding. Murphy was lying motionless on the ground. There were a few other’s around, but they all seemed to have minor cuts and bruises, although she would have to check them all for concussions.

“Octavia, can you start looking after the people with minor injuries? Raven and Miller, you guys help Bellamy get that rock off of Jasper. I can’t do much until it’s off. In the meantime, I will look at the people with more serious injuries.” Clarke instructed, snapping into doctor mode. She first ran over to the unconscious Murphy. She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt a pulse, it was weak, but it was there. She found a cut on the back of his head. It didn’t need stitches, but he was going to have a nasty bump and probable concussion when he woke up. Clarke wrapped a bandage around his head to help stop the bleeding. She couldn’t do much more for his head other than wait for him to wake up. She stitched up a cut on his arm and cleaned and bandaged a few other ones. When she had done all she could for Murphy she moved on.

Clarke moved to Monroe next. She was about to pop her dislocated shoulder back in when a loud noise and a chorus of cheers came from behind her. She looked to see that they had gotten the boulder off of Jasper. Clarke quickly set Monroe’s shoulder and promised to come back and stitch up her leg.

“Jasper,” She said as she kneeled next to the boy and brushed his hair off of his sweaty forehead. Jasper groaned and his eyes met hers. He looked weak, but there was a clarity in his gaze that Clarke found encouraging. She moved to examine his leg, it didn’t look nearly as bad as it could’ve considering it had been crushed by a rock. It was definitely broken, but the break didn’t appear to be too bad. “Okay, I’m going to make a splint. For now if you could find me 2 straight sticks and some rope. I can make a better one back at camp.” Clarke directed at Miller. Then she turned to Bellamy and Raven. “We will also need a few stretchers. One for Jasper, one for Murphy if he doesn’t wake up, and one for Monroe. I don’t want her walking on that leg yet and reopening the stitches that I will put in.” The three of them nodded and set off. Clarke turned her attention back to Jasper. His leg was already showing bruises. She bandaged the multiple cuts over his body and then attached the splint when Miller brought the materials. Jasper groaned when she moved his leg, but suffered through the pain admirably.

“And my savior strikes again,” Jasper said with a weak smile when she was finished. Clarke smiled back and kissed him on the cheek.

“Get some rest.” She told him and stood up. She brushed her hair out of her face and closed her eyes for a second, revving herself up for her next round.

“Here” she opened her eyes to see Miller holding a cup out to her. “Drink some water” She took the cup gladly and sipped the water.

“Thank you, can you make sure everyone else gets water too?”

“Sure thing Clarke.” Miller responded. She handed him back the cup when she was finished and moved on to the next patient. Harper still sat against the tree breathing slowly. When she saw Clarke approaching she shifted slightly, the movement causing her to wince.

“I think I know this one Doc, it’s my ribs.” The girl guessed and Clarke thought that she might be right. After investigating she figured that Harper had two cracked ribs. She didn’t think they were fully broken and thank goodness for that.

“Well you do have a couple cracked ribs. There is nothing I can really do for you except tell you to take it easy and give it time. They will heal on their own. Just make sure you breathe normally even though it hurts. You can develop complications if you breathe shallowly for a while.” Harped nodded and thanked her and Clarke moved on. She stitched up Monroe’s leg and checked over the people that Octavia had treated to confirm it was nothing serious. She checked on Murphy again, he was stable but still out.

She finally got a second to rest after that. Her eyes fell on Bellamy. She once again noticed the blood on his face. He looked tired and pale. With a twinge of guilt, Clarke started to walk towards him. He had been in the rockslide too, he was a patient just like the rest of them yet she had put him to work because he was competent and she needed him. Clarke relied so heavily on Bellamy that sometimes it scared her. She had never been good at needing people and trusting them, but somehow Bellamy had wormed his way inside of her defenses. Clarke took his arm when she reached him.

“Come on, I need to check your head.”

“But the…” He started

“Raven and Miller can finish the stretcher.” She glanced at Raven who nodded reassuringly back at her. “Come sit” Clarke pulled him down and sat on a rock next to him. Her co-leader regarded her seriously as she cleaned away the dry blood to get a look at the wound. “How hard did you hit your head?” She asked meeting his gaze.

“I dunno, it all was pretty disorienting. I may have lost consciousness shortly, its hard to tell.”

“Well it stopped bleeding, but you probably have a concussion. Did you hurt anything else?”

“No, I was lucky” Bellamy brushed her off, he never had been a good patient. “How are you doing?” He asked, looking at her intently again. She scoffed at the ridiculousness of the question.

“Well I wasn’t in the rock slide, so I’m better off than the rest of you.”

“You look tired.”

“Wow, you’re quite the charmer aren’t you.” She put a lot of sarcasm into her voice which brought a smile to Bellamy’s lips.

“I’m not trying to be charming, I’m trying to look out for you.” He said as the smile faded. Under his gaze, Clarke realized how wiped she really felt. She hadn’t let herself feel it while she was treating everybody.

“I’m okay, just a bit tired from running around all day.”

“Well, we’ll just sit here and rest for a little bit and wait for our second wind to hit us.”

“More like a fifth wind.” Clarke said with a laugh. “And just for a bit, we have to get everyone back before dark.”

“Okay” Bellamy patted her leg and then settled back onto his rock.


	2. Chapter 2

The journey back took an excruciatingly long time. With all the injuries and the stretchers, they had to move slowly. To make matters worse, Clarke realized that her side was hurting her. She had been so focused on helping people that she had forgotten about her cut. She had probably reopened her stitches with all of the moving around she did. She made a mental note to check it when they got back to camp.

She readjusted her grip on the boy, named Alec, whom she was supporting. He had his arm around her shoulder and she had hers around his waist. He had twisted his ankle, not too bad, but bad enough that he needed help walking. The had stopped a few times to rest and between that and the slow pace it was dark by the time they all got back. Everyone ran up to them the second they made through the gate, Monty at the head.

“Is everyone okay? Is Jasper okay?” He asked Clarke, but before she could answer he saw Jasper on the stretcher and ran over to him. Clarke passed Alec over to Fox and looked around at the worried faces of the Delinquents.

“Everyone is going to be okay.” She took a moment to reassure them all before begin to give directions. “Everyone who was in the slide needs to have a cup of Monty’s tea every day for the next two weeks. We don’t want any infections. Put Murphy and Jasper in the dropship. Everyone else can stay in their tents. But everyone please take it easy until your injuries are healed. I'll be checking up on everyone tomorrow.” Clarke then followed the stretchers into the dropship and trusted Raven and Octavia and Monty to get everyone the tea and settled. Once the two boys were settled everyone but Bellamy and Miller left the ship. Clarke went over to check on Jasper.

“How are you doing?”

“Hurts like hell, but only when I move,” Jasper said with a smile. Clarke was thankful for his sunny disposition. He was going to be immobile for a while and it would help her greatly if he continued to be this carefree about it.

“Would one of you get some of Monty’s tea?” Clarke asked turning to Miller and Bellamy. She saw Miller leave before moving on to check on Murphy. She lifted up his head to feel for his cut, she was grateful to see that it had stopped bleeding, but just as predicted a huge bump was forming. She laid his head gently back down on the makeshift pillow and brushed hair off of the boy’s forehead.

“It’s bad that he hasn’t woken up yet, isn’t it?” Clarke jumped slightly at the sound of Bellamy’s voice next to her. She hadn’t noticed him approach, although now his presence was so overwhelming she didn’t know how she hadn’t sensed it. She took a step away from him and looked up at him. He gazed at Murphy with a look of concern for a few seconds before meeting her eyes.

“Not necessarily, if he hasn’t woken up by tomorrow then I will start worrying, but head injuries take a varying amount of time to heal,” Clarke said, hoping she sounded more optimistic than she felt. Truth was she was nervous and the worst part was that she could do nothing to help Murphy.

“You should get some sleep,” Bellamy said, his concerned expression back, but this time directed at Clarke.

“I will, but I’m going to sleep in here in case he wakes up.”

“I’ll stay with you.”

“No, that’s not necessary, you are injured too, you need a good night sleep.”

“You need a good night sleep too, you’re starting to look like a ghost.”

“I’m staying here.”

“So am I,” Bellamy said firmly. Clarke knew there was no changing his mind and she didn’t have any more energy to argue.

“Fine, you can sleep there.” Clarke gestured to the pile of blankets that she had used as a bed more than once. Bellamy walked over and sat on top of them. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he was interrupted by Miller entering the drop ship.

“Great, could you make sure Jasper and Bellamy get some. Make sure you drink some as well. And if you could leave a cup for Murphy to drink when he wakes up that would be great.” Miller nodded and followed her instructions. After he was finished she took the thermos from him and put her hand on his arm. “Thank you, now go get some sleep.” She said softly. Miller smiled at her gratefully and left the ship. Clarke turned around to find Jasper sound asleep and Bellamy leaning against the wall like he was about to fall asleep at any second. Clarke sat next to where Murphy lay.  
“Crazy day huh?” Bellamy murmured.

“Not our craziest, but definitely not one I would want to be repeating any time soon,” Clarke said and Bellamy chuckled softly.

“Every time I think we’ve figured out this whole Earth thing it throws something new in our face.”

“I don’t think we will ever figure out all of it’s secrets,” Clarke said with a sigh.

“Yeah, probably not. Everyone’s going to be okay you know.” Bellamy’s sudden switch of topic left Clarke confused.

“What?”

“All of our people, and everyone who was in the rockslide today, they are all going to be okay. I can practically feel your anxiety from over here.”

“I just feel so responsible for all of them.”

“Yeah, I know exactly how you feel. You’ve done an amazing job Princess. Everyone here is alive three times over because of you.”  
“Right back at you,” Clarke said, trying to make out his expression in the dim lighting.

“Get some sleep princess. We need our doctor at 100%.” Bellamy said as he lay down and situated himself on the blankets.

“Goodnight Bellamy,” She said but remained sitting. She wasn’t ready to fall asleep yet. She listened to the sounds of the three boys' steady breathing. In the quiet, without any distractions, Clarke felt her side begin to ache again. She was too comfortable and too sleepy to look at it now. As her eyes drifted closed she promised herself she would look at it in the morning.

*****

Clarke woke up a few hours later. She could tell that it wasn’t morning and that something had woken her up. She looked over to see that Murphy was awake, he must’ve shifted and woke her up.

“Clarke?” He whispered.

“Murphy, you’re awake, thank god. How are you feeling?”

“Like I got pelted with rocks and thrown down a 20 foot drop.” He groaned as he tried to sit up.

“No, lie still. You hit your head pretty hard. You’ve been out for a while. Let me get you some water and some of Monty’s infection preventing tea.” Clarke stood up and got the items as well as brought the lantern closer to the two of them. She lifted up his head gently and helped him drink both the water and the tea. He lay back with a sigh.

“Thanks.” Then he turned his head and looked at her, “I think you look as bad as I feel. Seriously when is the last time you got a good night sleep? I don’t think those circles beneath your eyes could get any darker if you spread ash on them.”

“Okay Murphy I get it, I look tired.” Clarke said with a slight laugh.

“You look a bit more than tired.”

“You’ve made your point” Clarke said. It wasn’t a mean tone of voice, but it let Murphy know that didn’t want to talk about it any more. With a sigh he switched topics.

“Is everyone else okay?”

“Yes, Jasper was the worst off. He broke his leg and I’m hoping there are no complications. Everyone else just had cuts, bruises, concussions. There was a twisted ankle and dislocated shoulder. But miraculously everyone made it out alright.”

“Good, that’s good.” Murphy’s voice sounded tired and his eyes kept drifting closed.

“I will tell you more in the morning. Get some sleep Murphy.”

“I will if you will.” He said, deliberately opening his eyes fully and staring her down. “A princess needs her beauty sleep.”

“Fine, I’ll sleep.” Clarke said after a few moments, but Murphy kept staring her down.

“You would probably sleep better laying down.” He said finally. With a huff Clarke lay down and closed her eyes.

“Better?” She asked, keeping her eyes shut.

“Much, goodnight Princess.”

“Night Murphy.”


	3. Chapter 3

Bellamy woke up well into the next morning. He looked in shock at the sunlight streaming through the canvas hung in the doorway. He couldn’t believe he has slept so long and so soundly. He must have been more wiped out than he thought. He sat up and wiped the sleep out of his eyes. He looked around and saw that Murphy was sitting up and draping a blanket across the sleeping Clarke. A smile spread across his face, he was glad to see that his friend was alright. He started to say something, but Murphy caught his eye and put his finger to his lips, gesturing at Clarke. Murphy stood up and walked out of the ship and Bellamy followed suit. Once outside, Murphy started speaking in hushed tones.

“She’s finally asleep and we should do all we can to keep it that way. I woke up several times throughout the night and each time she was awake and getting me water. I don’t know when she finally fell asleep.” Bellamy groaned at the news, it confirmed what he had suspected. Clarke was working too hard and not taking care of herself. “Is she okay?” Murphy asked.

“I hope so, I think she is just tired and working herself to the bone,” Bellamy said with a shake of his head. “We’ll have to keep an eye on her.”

“Of course.” Murphy nodded his head and then winced.

“How are you doing?”

“My head aches like hell, but nothing I can’t deal with.”

“I’m glad you’re okay Murphy,” Bellamy said sincerely. He took a moment to marvel at how far the two of them had come. They had gone from “Whatever the hell we want” to fiercely protecting their people in what seemed like a short amount of time.

“I’m glad you and everyone else is okay too,” Murphy said with a small smile. “Looks like everyone else decided to sleep in as well.” He said looking around the camp. Bellamy followed his gaze and saw that other than a few people, no one else was around.

“Yeah well everyone had a stressful day yesterday. I figure they could all use a break.” Bellamy said. “Hey, I’m just going to freshen up and check on guard duty and all of that,” Bellamy added when he realized how grubby he felt. He had dirt everywhere and still had blood in his hair. “You take it easy and make sure the Princess isn’t disturbed alright?”

“Yeah okay,” Murphy said and the two boys headed their separate ways.

*****

Bellamy returned to the dropship a while later feeling considerably better, that is until he heard Clarke's raised voice coming from the inside. He hurried up the ramp and pushed aside the fabric. He was greeted by a humorous scene. The tiny Clarke had Murphy backed against a wall, she pushed her finger into his chest. The normally sassy boy was silent and his eyes held just a hint of fear. Jasper was lying on his bed with his eyes half open. Bellamy guessed he was pretending to be asleep to escape Clarke’s wrath but couldn’t resist getting a peak of the action. Bellamy took another step inside the ship and Murphy caught sight of him.

“Bellamy, thank God.” At his words, Clarke stepped back and whirled to face Bellamy. Bellamy put his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

“Clarke, what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong is you two dimwits decided to let me sleep. It’s almost afternoon! I have patients to see to, I can’t just sleep around all day. How could you let me sleep!” Clarke took a few steps towards him as she yelled. He resisted the urge to bolt and instead took a step towards her.

“We let everyone sleep in, most of the people that were in the slide are still sleeping. You’ve been working hard Clarke, we thought you deserved the sleep.” 

“You don’t get to decide what I deserve. I have concussion patients who needed to be woken up and checked, I have over a dozen wounds to rebandage and check for infection, I need to make sure that Alec's leg stopped swelling, and I need to make Jasper a proper brace to ensure that his leg heals correctly. I can’t afford to sleep in.” Now that they were so close she wasn’t yelling anymore, but her words still held the same intensity.

“Clarke everyone knows how to deal with concussions. We appointed a person per tent to wake up and check the people in the slide. The cuts and Jasper’s brace could wait a few hours. Nothing is going to happen because you slept a bit.” Bellamy tried to rationalize with her to calm her down.

“It could’ve, something could’ve happened.”

“And we would’ve woken you up immediately.” Bellamy reached out and took both of her arms, rubbing his hands up and down them in a comforting gesture. “I’m sorry we didn’t wake you, but there was no need to interrupt the first solid amount of sleep you have gotten in ages.” Bellamy felt Clarke lean into his hands and saw the anger slip off of her face. He met Murphy’s eyes above Clarke’s head and they exchanged a relieved look. Bellamy dropped his hands and took a small step back. 

“Okay fine, but I really should do rounds now. And we probably should get everyone up. We can have a lazy day today, but we should try not to mess up our sleep schedules too bad. Plus we need food for dinner tonight, and I am running out of supplies, and…”  
“I got it Princess," Bellamy said wryly. "You go see to your patients, I’ll take care of things around camp.” Clarke shot him a grateful look and walked over to her supply shelves.

“Make sure whoever restocks gets plenty of bandages. I want to wrap Jasper’s leg up completely. And if someone could cut pieces of wood that are straighter and flatter to attach that would be great.”  
“Got it, anything else?”

“Have Monty go with them. See if he can find any more of those plants that help with pain. Harper’s ribs are probably killing her and there isn’t much I can do other than try to dull the pain.”

“Okay.” Bellamy nodded. Clarke listed off a few other things she needed and he made a mental note of all of them. When she finally had finished she gathered her supplies she left to go check on the injured.

“Dude,” Jasper spoke up when she had left. “Did you see the look on Murphy’s face?”

“Shut up,” Murphy said, but there was no malice behind the words. “I’m glad Bellamy came in when he did, she is terrifying.” Bellamy had to agree with him on that one.

“Come on” He clapped Murphy on the shoulder. “What do you say we get this camp moving, feeling up to some hunting?”

“Hell yes.” They started to walk out when Jasper called out from behind them.

“You guy’s have fun, I’ll just be here.”

“We’ll send in Octavia or someone to keep you company Jasper. And we’ll get you that new brace soon so you can be a bit more mobile.” Bellamy promised.

Once outside he got to work getting people up and separating the uninjured ones into teams. He and Murphy headed up the hunting team while Monty and Miller headed up the team collecting medical and other supplies. He left Raven and Octavia in charge of things at camp with specific instructions keep Jasper company.

They had a stroke of luck while hunting and after a few hours were able to find enough game to feed everyone extremely well. They brought back their prizes and started preparing them. Bellamy went in search of Clarke. He found her in the dropship with Jasper and Octavia.

“Hey big brother, you guys get us dinner?”

“Plenty of it.” He said with a grin, but his smile quickly faded when he got a good look at Clarke. The first thing he noticed was that Clarke was extremely pale and sweaty. She didn’t just look overtired, she looked sick. “Clarke…” He started but abruptly cut off when she started to sway on her feet. Time seemed to move in slow motion as she fell.


	4. Chapter 4

Bellamy quickly closed the distance between them and caught Clarke as she collapsed. He brought her into his arms and noticed how hot she felt. Her eyes flickered open a few times before they finally remained shut and her body went fully limp in his arms.

“Here, put her here.” He looked to see Octavia clearing off a table next to Jasper. She folded some rags for a pillow and stepped back. Bellamy walked over and gently set Clarke down. The girl moaned slightly, but her eyes remained shut.

“What’s wrong with her?” Jasper asked a bit frantically.

“I don’t know.” Bellamy scanned her for any sign of something wrong. It took him a couple seconds before he saw the dark red splotch on her side. It was easily missed because she was still wearing the same shirt she had been the day before and it was covered in the blood of those she had treated. Cursing to himself he slowly lifted up her shirt. He heard Octavia gasp when he revealed the long cut, it was oozing blood and had angry red lines shooting out from it. Bellamy looked closer and saw that it had at one point been stitched up, but Clarke had ripped open all of the stitches. “You stupid girl,” he said under his breath.

“It looks infected” Octavia, who had gotten over her initial shock, said as she examined the wound.

“Get me a cloth, moonshine, Monty’s tea, needle and thread, and bandages,” Bellamy instructed his sister. He was trying hard to remain calm and objective. He had sewn up injuries before and he tried to tell himself that this time was no different. Except it was different, because it was Clarke. She was his co-leader, their doctor, the voice of reason, their strength. He needed her. He didn’t know how to keep this camp together without Clarke by his side. Bellamy reached down and brushed hair off of her cheek and stroked it gently with his thumb. “C’mon, stay with me Clarke.” He whispered. “I need you to fight this”. He put a hand against her forehead and felt heat radiating from it.

“I got everything,” Octavia said as she bounded back into the ship with Monty at her heels.

“Let me see” Bellamy moved back to allow Monty to look at Clarke. “It doesn’t look too bad, I think if we clean it and give her some tea it should be okay.” Bellamy breathed a little easier at his words. He could do this, Clarke was going to be okay, it was all going to be okay.

“Here Bell,” Octavia said holding the thermos of moonshine out. He held out his hands and she doused them. Then he took a rag and began gently trying to clean off the wound. He then pulled out the sad remains of her stitches. Once all the dried blood was away the cut looked considerably better. It wasn’t bleeding too much and Bellamy thought that it might not need stitches.

“Here help me give her the tea.” Bellamy lifted up Clarke’s head and opened her mouth. Monty lifted the cup to her lips and poured the liquid in. Bellamy pinched her nose so she would be forced to swallow. “C’mon Princess, swallow.” He urged her, but instead she coughed, spitting out the tea. Her body shook violently as she continued to cough.

“Get her on her side.” Bellamy looked up to see that Murphy had appeared. He ran forward to help Bellamy roll her on her side. Clarke continued coughing as blood came out of her mouth. When her coughs had subsided they rolled her onto her back. Bellamy cleaned the blood off of her face with a cloth. Octavia was brushing back her hair, Monty was stroking her arm, Murphy had his hand on her leg, and Jasper was craning frantically to see what was happening. Bellamy was struck suddenly about how fiercely everyone cared for Clarke. He had been so caught up in how much he needed Clarke that he hadn’t realized how much everyone else needed her too.

“We have to get her to drink this.” Monty said.

“Okay” Bellamy agreed. They tried again to give Clarke this tea and this time succeeded in getting her to drink it. “Thank God,” Bellamy said as he gently placed Clarke’s head back on the table. He stepped back and wiped the sweat from his brow.

“Bell…” He turned to his sister and then followed her gaze to Clarke’s side. Her coughing fit had caused the wound to open up and blood was now flowing from it.

“Look’s like I’ll have to sew it up, after all.” Bellamy sighed and got to work. When he had finished he stepped back to admire his handiwork. He was suddenly thankful for all of the times he had helped his mom mend clothing.

“Is she going to be okay?” Jasper asked from behind him. Bellamy turned to offer the boy a small smile.

“Clarke's strong. We’ve done all we can do for her, now we just have to let her body fight off the infection. I think she’s going to be okay.” Bellamy really hoped his words would turn out to be true. They all needed Clarke to pull through this.

“She’s a fighter, she will make it.” Octavia said. They all looked up when Miller ran inside.

“I heard Clarke was sick,” He said breathlessly his gaze falling on her unconscious form.

“It seems our Doctor let a cut on her side get infected.” Bellamy told him. “We gave her some tea and stitched it up, she should be okay.”

“Clarke let something get infected? But she’s always so careful about that. She always makes sure we drink the tea even if we get a tiny scratch.” Miller said in disbelief.

“She hasn’t stopped moving in the past few days, I think she was so caught up in helping everyone else that she neglected to take care of herself.” Bellamy responded.

“How did she cut herself?” Murphy asked. Bellamy looked around at everyone’s blank faces and shrugged his shoulders.

“No idea, we’ll have to ask her when she wakes up.”

“FOOD’S READY” They heard someone yell from outside. They all turned to Bellamy for an indication of what to do next.

“Go, get some food. There is nothing more we can do until her condition changes. I’ll stay with Clarke and Jasper. If someone could just bring us some food that would be great.” They all nodded and began to file out. Octavia stopped to kiss Clarke on the forehead, then she came over and kissed Bellamy on the cheek.

“She’s going to be okay” She whispered.

“I hope so O” he whispered back. When they had all left Bellamy pulled over a crate to sit on and took Clarke’s hand, not caring that Jasper was there to see. He looked over to see the boy lying flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling. “Sorry we weren’t able to get around to fixing you up a better brace.” He said and Jasper turned to look at him.

“It’s okay, Clarke’s more important.”

“We’ll get you fixed up tomorrow.”

“Good, because I am going a little stir crazy here.” Jasper muttered and Bellamy chuckled.

“Did someone order some deer?” Murphy said as he came in carrying three sticks with meat skewered on them. He handed one to Jasper, one to Bellamy, and settled on a crate with the third. The three boys ate in companionable silence, each enjoying their food and simply being together. When they had finished Bellamy felt Clarke’s forehead. She still felt warm so he wet a cloth and placed it on her forehead. Murphy then helped him give her more tea just to be safe. Miller, Monty, Octavia, and Raven all came into the dropship a while later with blankets and stuff to sleep on.

“What are you all doing?” Bellamy asked, quirking an eyebrow at the group.

“Well, we figured you were going to spend the night in the dropship with Clarke, so we thought we would keep you company.” His sister responded. Bellamy shrugged nonchalantly, but he was glad they were all there. Especially because their chatter helped distract him from the girl sleeping next to him. Had he been alone he probably would’ve spent the whole time worrying and dwelling on things that didn’t need to be dwelled on.

After a while everyone slowly fell asleep, everyone except Bellamy that is. He simply couldn’t get his mind to quiet down. He looked around at the teenagers sprawled around the ship. They had so quickly become like a family to him. On the Ark he only had his mother and his sister to care about, then he only had O. It was such a weird feeling to have so many people who cared about him and relied on him.

His gaze fell on Clarke. She relied on him and he had let her down. He had noticed that she wasn’t herself these past few days, yet he had let her continue. He should’ve been observant enough to notice she was hurt. She may have hidden it well, but he was sure if he had looked hard enough he would’ve been able to notice it. Bellamy put a hand against her cheek to feel it’s temperature. With a sigh of relief he noted that her fever had broken. Clarke shifted slightly and leaned against her hand. A small groan escaped her lips.

“Clarke?” Bellamy asked, stroking her cheek instead of pulling it away like he might have a few days ago.

“Bell…? What?” She started weakly.

“You had a cut on your side that you let get infected. You passed out earlier today.” Bellamy answered the question before she finished asking it. He saw the confusion in her eyes clear.

“Crap” She groaned

“Crap is right. And when you are feeling better you and I are going to have a nice long chat about self preservation and how we can’t let our only doctor die because she won’t take care of herself.” Bellamy’s tone was a bit harsher than he intended.

“I’m sorry” She said simply. Bellamy took her hand and gave her a smile.

“We can talk more tomorrow. Right now you should get some more sleep.”

“Okay” she said, but her eyes remained locked on his.

“So, uh, how did you cut yourself anyways?” He said, trying to distract himself from the sudden ridiculous urge to kiss her.

“Couldn’t reach the top shelf...I climbed up, but it broke. I fell on a piece of metal.” Clarke said with a wince. Bellamy was pretty sure she was wincing more out of embarrassment than the memory of the pain. 

“Clumsy Princess.” He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. Her eyes fluttered shut and remained closed when he pulled away, but her hand tightened in his when he started to let go. He resumed his grip and sat beside her for the rest of the night. Even after both of them had fallen asleep, their hands remained grasped.


	5. Chapter 5

Octavia broke into a huge grin when she woke up the next morning and saw Bellamy and Clarke sleeping. Their hands were still clasped together. Bellamy was leaning his head on his arm which was propped on the side of the table in a position that couldn’t have been comfortable. Yet the expression on his face was one of extreme contentment, and Octavia knew it wasn’t just because he was sleeping.

Octavia saw a movement out of the corner of her eye and looked to see Jasper sitting up and grinning widely at her. She walked over and sat next to him.

“Thank God you’re here. I’ve been up for ages, but I didn’t want to make any noise and disturb them.” Jasper complained, but Octavia could tell that he didn’t really mind.

“Has she woken up yet?”

“Yeah, last night. I pretended to still be asleep to give them privacy.” Jasper smiled mischievously

“Hear anything interesting?” Octavia quirked her eyebrow.

“Just their typical banter,” Jasper said with disappointment. Octavia rolled her eyes. When would those crazy kids realize that they were madly in love with each other?

*****

Clarke woke up with a sweaty hand, but she did not remove it from Bellamy’s. Instead she found her fingers curling tighter around his. She jumped a little when she felt his tighten back. Bellamy lifted up his head and looked at her through sleepy eyes.

“Good morning, Princess.” He said in a rough voice. He took his hand away from hers and used it to run through his messy curls. Clarke felt a weird sense of loss of the warmth of his hand. She tried to sit up but winced as she felt the pain in her side. Bellamy gently put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her back down. “I am ordering you to bed rest for the day. We can take care of checking up on the injured.” Bellamy said, gesturing to the now awake people in the ship.   
“But…” Clarke tried to protest, but she was cut off by Monty.

“We can handle it Clarke. And if there is anything we can’t handle we will bring them here and you can talk us through it.”

“We need you to rest and recover, Princess. We need our doctor in full health.” Bellamy said, his hand still on her shoulder. Every instinct that Clarke had told her to ignore Bellamy’s verdict of a day of rest. There was so much that needed to be done. So much that she needed to do. She couldn’t afford to lay around all day. She would go crazy doing nothing, it was not in her nature.

However, she knew that she did need to give her side time to heal. And she knew that they were all fully capable of taking care of the minor cuts and injuries around camp. Plus she also knew that there was no arguing with Bellamy when he set his mind to something, especially when he was wearing the expression that was currently on his face. Clarke sighed and relaxed fully against the table.

“Fine, but make sure you come to me the second you are unsure about something.” She said. Bellamy smiled and removed his hand.

“Whatever you say Princess.”

“Make sure you make a new brace and maybe some crutches for Jasper. The poor boy is probably going crazy being cooped up in here.” 

“It’s not that bad. Plus today I’ll have you for company.” Jasper said with a smile. Clarke threw him a look that was less than enthused.

*****

Bellamy wiped the sweat off of his brow as he stepped out of the sweltering tent. No wonder Clarke had run herself dry, this was hard work. He and Raven had taken over Clarke’s duties while everyone else took care of making sure the camp continued to run smoothly. Even with splitting the work, he and Raven had spent a few hours straight checking up on the injuries sustained in the rock fall, plus patching up a few idiots who had injured themselves in various stupid ways. Bellamy certainly had a new appreciation for Clarke.

“What do you say we work on getting Jasper a kick ass cast?” He said to Raven as she fell into step with him.

“I’ve been thinking about that. I’ve had a few ideas about how to make a good cast, but I want to run them by Clarke first.”

“Perfect. I’m going to make sure that Miller, Murphy, and my sister haven’t killed anybody yet. I’ll meet you back in the dropship in a few.”

“Sounds good.” They parted ways and Bellamy walked over to where there was a group gathered working on building a few cabins. It was hard and long work, but no one complained because they knew in the end it would be worth it. Bellamy took out his ax and began chopping wood. Miller nodded at him and the two continued to work in companionable silence. Bellamy took great comfort in the repetitiveness and the physical labor. That is until a huge crash sounded throughout the camp. Bellamy and Miller exchanged a quick look before sprinting to see what happened.

One of the logs for a wall had not been secured correctly and had fallen off and onto a few kids. Murphy and Miller got the log off of the kids and out of the way. Bellamy breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that no one was seriously injured. They really couldn’t afford to have anyone else out of commission. It just looked like people were mostly bruised and scraped up a bit.

“Anyone hurt?” He asked just to make sure. The kids looked up at him with wide, frightened eyes, but all shook their heads no. They were shook up, but not hurt. “Okay, everybody take a break. Get some water and rest.” He watched as everyone slowly drifted away except Miller and Murphy. He walked over to them. “What exactly happened?”

“Someone got sloppy and forgot to secure the log correctly,” Murphy said, earning him a punch in the arm by Miller.

“They probably just went on autopilot. We’ve been building these for hours and it’s easy to get too comfortable doing the same job over and over.” Miller offered an explanation in a more diplomatic way.

“Okay, make sure that everyone is getting frequent breaks. And explain to everyone again how to put them together and emphasize the importance of doing it correctly.” Bellamy said, looking at Miller to indicate that he was the one who should be doing the talking.

“Bellamy!” The three boys turned at the sound of his name to see Octavia running towards him.

“O, what’s wrong?” He said quickly, eyes scanning her face. 

“It’s Clarke.” Octavia started, but put a hand to his chest when he immediately began moving. “She’s fine, but she heard the noise and freaked out and wanted to go see what happened. Raven and Monty had to hold her down so she would try to get up and rip all of her stitches.”

“I’ll talk to her,” Bellamy said and followed Octavia to the dropship. When they walked in he was greeted by a sight that made him simultaneously want to laugh and punch a wall in frustration. Raven was standing at the head of the table, both hands on Clarke’s shoulders and struggling to hold her down. Monty was thrown over Clarke’s legs, which were thrashing violently.

“Let me go! People could be hurt. Damn my side, I need to be out there!” Clarke yelled.

“Enough!” Bellamy yelled right back. Clarke stopped struggling immediately and Monty stepped back with a look of relief. Raven lessened the pressure, but still kept her hands on Clarke’s shoulders.

“Bellamy, what happened? Is anyone hurt?” Clarke asked hurriedly.

“Everyone is fine.” He looked around the room at the bystanders. “Everybody out, I need to talk to our dear doctor alone. Get Jasper on a stretcher and take him out into the fresh air.” They all burst into action, gladly following Bellamy’s instructions and glad to leave him to deal with the disgruntled Clarke.

Once they were alone, Bellamy sat down next to Clarke with a sigh. He lifted up her shirt and was relieved to see that she hadn’t ripped any of her stitches. He changed her bandage and then gently tugged her shirt back down into place. He looked over to see Clarke watching him with intense eyes.

“What happened?” She asked softly. Bellamy knew that he wouldn’t be able to talk about what he talked about until she was sure that everyone was safe, so he told her all about the fallen log.

“A few will have some nice bruises, but that’s about it. I promise everyone is okay.”

“Thank God. When I heard the noise I didn’t know what had happened. I felt so powerless to help.”

“Princess…” Bellamy tried, but she cut him off. 

“I know what you are going to say Bellamy. That it is stupid of me to risk myself and that I need to make sure to take care of my own needs first. But that just isn’t me. you know what my mother said to me right before I came to the ground? She told me that my instincts would tell me to take care of everyone first just like my father. She told me to be careful, but I can’t turn it off Bellamy. I can’t stand the thought of someone getting hurt because I was choosing to take care of myself first. I know you understand how I feel.” Clarke finished and Bellamy simply looked at her for a few moments, trying to pick the right words. 

“Do you trust me?” He finally said

“What...Bellamy...”

“Answer the question Clarke” he used her real name for emphasis.

“Yes, of course I trust you.”

“Do you think I am a capable leader and that I will do anything in my power to protect our people?”

“Yes.”

“Do you trust Miller, Octavia, Monty, Raven, Jasper, Murphy, Monroe, Harper, and the rest of the kids?”

“Yes I do, but what..?”

“Do you think they will also do all in their power to protect each other?”

“Of course…” Clarke said warily

“You need to let go a bit Clarke.” Bellamy said, finally getting to his point. “You need to trust that the rest of us can make reasonable decisions without you. You have been teaching all of us the basics of first aid. So you do not need to sew up every single cut that happens. We are smart enough to know when an injury is bad enough that we need your help. You are not obsolete, but you do not need to be present for every injury. You need to loosen the reigns and let us help you. Do you think you can do that?” Clarke stared at her hands for a moment after he finished.

“Maybe…” She said quietly. Bellamy put his hand over hers which brought her gaze up to meet his.

“We need our doctor in fully health, but I also need my co-leader. You ground me, you question my decisions, you make me better. I need you to help me keep everything running smoothly. Without you, I don’t know what would keep me sane.” Bellamy said in almost a whisper. Clarke’s eyes widened at his confession. Her hand twisted in his so that they were holding instead of just laying on one another.

“I do trust all of you, and I know that you guys are capable enough to handle injuries. It’s just that trust and letting go aren’t things that come easily to me. And I’ve always lived by, if you want something done correctly, do it yourself...but...I will try to let go a bit. And I will let my side heal correctly and every injury after that.”

“You trying is all I can ask for Princess.” Bellamy said with a smile. “How about we get you an intern to train. Someone to help you out, be a couple extra hands, and learn all that you know.”  
“That sounds good.”  
“What about Octavia or Raven? They both have helped you out before.” 

“No, neither of them would want to be cooped up with me, plus Octavia is a good fighter and Raven is needed for mechanics and engineering. How about Monty and Murphy? They have both helped me treat people in the past and I know they are level headed enough. I can train the both of them so that they can switch on and off. That way Monty can still help with gathering herbs and assisting Raven and Murphy can still help you and Miller. As long as they both want to I think it could work. What do you think?”

“I think that’s a great idea Princess. I’ll ask them and see what they think.” Bellamy stood up to leave but Clarke tugged lightly on his hand. He sat back down and gave her a questioning look.

“I just...i just wanted to thank you for always looking out for me and having my back.” Clarke said in a slightly sheepish tone. But her eyes held his with and intensity that didn’t allow him to look away. He read something in her eyes that she did not say out loud. He saw something that encouraged him to do what he had been too nervous to do for a very long time. He stood up and braced his hands on the table on either side of her head. He leaned closer, testing the waters. Clarke reached up and stroked his cheek and he leaned further, until their mouths were a breath away. Clarke’s hand moved up into his hair, she tangled her fingers there and he softly touched his mouth against hers. Bellamy tried to keep the kiss light and tender, to show her how much he really cared for her even if he couldn’t find the words to say.

After a few seconds he pulled away slightly. Clarke’s eyes drifted open and skimmed over her face. Then with a twinkle in her eye she used the hand still tangled in his hair to push his mouth back to hers. This time he was unable to keep the heat out of the kiss, not that he wanted to. Clarke’s mouth moved frantically against his and he welcomed the passion. All thoughts other than Clarke disappeared. All he could think about was the tiny, blonde, firecracker. The girl who could cause anyone to cower with her voice alone, or light up a room with her smile. The girl who was so important to so many people and so incredibly selfless. The girl who knew how to make the hard decisions, yet would cry when she was unable to save someone. The girl who had somehow wormed her way into his heart and taken up permanent residence.

They finally pulled apart and Bellamy saw a smile on her lips to match his own. He sat back down and intertwined his fingers with hers. They sat in a comfortable silence, neither of them saying anything, but neither of them having to. They had always been good at communicating without actually saying the words they meant. The kiss had told each of them more than words ever could.

*****

Octavia snuck back to the group with a goofy smile on her face.

“They kissed!” She said in an excited whisper.

“Bout damn time,” Raven said with a grin.

“Looks like you’re taking my guard shift tonight.” Miller said, shoving Murphy with his shoulder. Jasper and Monty hi-fived and the rest of them whooped and laughed. They were all extremely glad to see their leaders finally together and happy.


End file.
